Updating to the new version will allow using these features in the upcoming Fedora releases.

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Some of these features require the new version to reach the builders. So actually introducing them in Fedora will take longer that the Fedora 21 release. Nevertheless updating RPM in F21 is the first step to make this happen.

Current status

Detailed Description

The current upstream repository contains several improvements that need to get released and integrated into Fedora:

Support for weak dependencies

Support for files > 4GB

New API for accessing files and file contents

New tool for converting rpm packages to tar files

Internal plugin interface

Improved SELinux handling

Some of these features require the new version to reach the builders. So actually introducing them in Fedora will take longer that the Fedora 21 release. Nevertheless updating RPM in F21 is the first step to make this happen.

Benefit to Fedora

The above plus closing the gap between RPM upstream and the Fedora version.

Scope

Proposal owners: The RPM code base needs to get stabilized and release ready. The release candidates need to be tested in rawhide.

Other developers: Will test the release candidates during normal operation in raw hide. Need to report issues and bugs.

Release engineering: Check infrastructure for compatibility. Check for 64bit readiness as soon as builders are updated, too (F22 time frame).

Policies and guidelines: Packaging policies might need reconsidering in the light of the new options (F22 or even F23 time frame).

Upgrade/compatibility impact

Using some of the new feature will break forward compatibility. Packages using these features will not be able be build or be installed on older Fedora versions. Backward compatibility is expected to be maintained.

How To Test

Testing is done in full operation.

User Experience

Packagers will be able to package files >4GB

Packagers will be able to use weak dependencies

API users will be able to access file data more cleanly and access payload data for the first time

A new tool rpm2archive) will allow converting rpm pakcages to tar files instead of the outdated cpio format

The new tool will work with files >4GB while cpio (and though rpm2cpio) does not

Dependencies

Weak dependencies need to be supported by create_repo, and the updaters (and may be the packaging policy) to be useful

>4GB support requires the infrastructure to support those file sizes to be usable. Especially it requires the builders to be updated to rpm-4.12, too

Those features not being useful from the start is not a blocker for the change, though. Actual use of those features can (and is expected to) be postponed to upcoming Fedora releases.

Contingency Plan

Go back to rpm-4.11. It is unlikely that this requires reverting some changes in other packages as the new features will probably not already be used in F21.

In case something really bad happens it might be necessary to rebuild all packages built with the broken version - although there are no new features that suggest such thing being likely.